AfroSFv2

by Ivor W Hartmann

  “May I have some water?” She asked in the sweetest voice possible. It was a different guard this time and he brought her a cup without drawing his handgun. It was exactly what she had been waiting for.

  She only had to pull and her hands were free of their chains and around the soldier’s neck. The second guard, realising what was happening, opened fire. She gripped her captive’s body with one hand using it as a shield, drew the soldier’s gun with the other and fired. The second soldier fell just as three more men burst through the door.

  She did not flinch, even as the soldiers fired at her, hitting her dead-body shield instead. She shot through the chains on her legs and then redirected her aim at the door. As the automatic gunfire cut through the revered men of the defence force, there was a child-like smile on her face and an evil glint in her eye. It was finally happening.

  Chileka, Blantyre district

  “I am glad you are awake, Nina. It is Nina, isn’t it? Do help your brother up. It seems he is having difficulties. He must’ve been hit a little too hard.”

  Nina could not move. Her body felt stiff and she willed herself to shift a limb. Who was the man in front of her? All she could see were his shiny black shoes and part of his grey trousers. Nina managed to tilt her head to her left. The back of her skull instantly protested, releasing a sharp pain that made her cry out.

  Standing directly in front of Nina, Mushani only shook his head. “Help her up,” he ordered two men who were behind him.

  The men, also immaculately dressed, hauled Nina up and sat her on a pew. In spite of the headache that threatened to drag her down into unconsciousness, she managed to look around. This time, the scream which escaped from Nina’s lips was not due to pain, but horror.

  Lying on the cement floor in front of her were Joel and Father Fletcher. The latter was trying to get up, but it seemed that he too had difficulty moving his limbs. Joel had less trouble. He got up slowly, stared directly in front of him and started crying.

  At the front of the church, Sir Gregory was being tied to the front of the pulpit, arms outstretched, directly facing Nina. His face a mixture of anger and grief, Sir Gregory looked at the man in the grey suit and then to the altar. There lay Mavuto’s limp body flat on its stomach. In this position, he almost looked like he was only asleep, but Nina knew her brother was dead. She had watched while one of the things had broken his neck.

  “Truly sorry about your brother,” Mushani spoke, as if reading Nina’s thoughts. “He was supposed to be alive and witnessing all this. But, I am sure he is with us in spirit, as you gumas on this planet would say. And if he is not,” he gestured towards the pulpit, “at least he is with us in body.”

  “How dare you!” Father Fletcher’s voice suddenly rang out throughout the church. The priest was slowly trying to rise to his feet. “You kill an innocent boy and make a mockery of it. Worse still, you make a mockery of God’s temple! What kind of person are you? Remove that boy from the altar and untie that man!”

  Joel started crying again. Nina, now able to move, went to her little brother.

  Ignoring them, Mushani spoke directly to Father Fletcher. “May I remind you, priest, that I am not a person and neither is he.” He pointed at the pulpit, but his eyes never left Father Fletcher’s. “You have no authority over me. We are the reason you are here, not your god. You came here because we left you here, to breed, to multiply. You are ours, priest, and you would do well to remember that.”

  Father Fletcher was unmoved. “I am a child of God. By doing this, you incur God’s wrath upon yourselves. Mark my words; your punishment shall be severe!”

  “I admire your courage, priest, although I hardly see what your faith is based on. You do not wonder why your god has not saved you? Or maybe you need to pray, priest. Pray until something happens. That is what some of you Christians say, is it not? Well, prayer or not, something will happen here, priest.” Mushani held Father Fletcher’s head in his hands as he spoke. “You are going to die.”

  14

  “Mushani,” Sir Gregory spoke, his voice calm in spite of the rage he felt towards the man he was addressing. “Let them go and I promise to kill you swiftly. You will feel no pain.”

  Mushani was startled for a moment, then he laughed, the sound echoing in the church. “Kanoni, my friend, I forgot how humorous you used to be. You were quite the jester when we were little.” He let go of Father Fletcher’s head and turned to Sir Gregory. “But then again, you used to like me back then, before I killed your wife.”

  The only gasp that was heard in the church was Father Fletcher’s, who was still trying to catch his breath after nearly being choked to death. Nina and Joel did not utter a word, even though both their mouths dropped open.

  Seeing their reaction only pleased Mushani. “Yes, that story of how your mother was killed and why. Well, I would really like to talk about that, but I’m afraid we have wasted enough time here as it is.”

  Standing right in front of the pulpit, Mushani took out a knife from his trouser pocket. And then, from his jacket pocket, he produced a shining silver revolver. “The gun is for you, muhiri. But before I kill you, I am going to make you watch me cut their throats.” He then turned to the children. “So, who wants to join mother and brother first?”

  The answer came in the form of a loud gunshot outside the church. The words “take care of that” were on Mushani’s lips when the door at the back of the church crashed open, followed by half a dozen men in military uniform and a civilian. More gunshots rang out and two of the metsus closest to the door fell to the floor.

  Mushani was already firing. His revolver barked twice and one of the camouflaged men fell over dead. Then he turned around and fired at the pulpit just as a bullet hit him between his shoulder blades. But that only kept him down for a few seconds. Mushani leapt onto the nearest pew, knocking Nina out in the process, and launched himself at a window. Stained glass sprayed everywhere as he crashed through.

  Onani was beside Nina in seconds, focused on her until the sergeant started barking out orders, calling for a medic. He looked up to see Sir Gregory carrying Mavuto in his arms. Onani did not have to be told that Nina’s brother was dead.

  “You came in the nick of time, son. You and your military friends,” said Sir Gregory.

  “I wish we had arrived sooner, sir,” replied Onani, looking at Mavuto’s body. “I do not think you remember me. My name is Onani. Onani Limani.”

  “I know who you are. You were at my wife’s funeral. And Mavuto and Joel kept talking about Nina’s police officer boyfriend.”

  There was an awkward silence for a few seconds as both men looked for something to say. It was only then that Onani noticed the elder man’s shirt. Its navy blue colour could not hide the fact that Sir Gregory was bleeding profusely from his right side.

  “You need to have that checked, sir. It does not look too good.”

  Sir Gregory only shrugged. “What I need right now is to take my children home. You should come too. There are a few things you need to know.”

  Onani shifted his gaze from Nina, who was now beginning to wake up, to her father. “Sir, you can’t just walk away from what has happened here. There are a lot of questions that will require answers from all of you. You cannot leave.”

  “I am quite aware of that,” Sir Gregory replied, appearing to be in a great deal of pain. “And I will explain everything to you. I know how to defeat your enemies. Surely that should interest you. Now, leave your army friends here to finish up and let’s go home. I do not have much time left.”

  15

  “I still don’t understand. How exactly did you get here? You were supposed to be in Lilongwe, last I checked,” said Nina.

  Onani, tired as he was, began to narrate his story, leaving out that he was almost killed and that his assailant had every intention of hunting him down and finishing the job. Onani was quite sure that Nina did not want to hear about an attractive but deadly woman, no matter who she was. Not from On
ani.

  “Anyway, long story short, we saw dead people outside the church and decided to investigate. That’s how we found you. Had the church been a little farther from the road, I would probably not have found you,” Onani concluded, trying not to move since Nina’s head was in his lap.

  They made it back to the house and Nina had immediately gone to bed, at her stepfather’s insistence. Sir Gregory had then ordered Father Fletcher to stay with Joel while he talked with Onani.

  “So where is my father now?” Nina was now trying to get up. Onani gently eased her back onto the bed. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about him. He is badly hurt but refuses to see a doctor. And,” Onani hesitated, “he has told me stories that sound a bit outlandish. I would not have believed him until he gave me this.”

  Onani reached under Nina’s bed and pulled out a large gun, which looked like an ordinary rifle, except this one had a line of blue liquid running along the barrel, making it glow. “All he said was that we will need these later. He gave me quite a few other weapons too. He got them all from his bedroom. Wouldn’t let me in, though. He asked that you join him as soon as you woke up.”

  Nina knew that Onani wanted answers from her, answers which she either currently did not have or was unsure of. But right now, her family needed her. She got up from the bed and was about to leave the room when Onani spoke again.

  “By the way, you should probably know that he has Mavuto’s body with him.”

  She found him sitting on the floor in the secret room, cradling Mavuto’s body. Only when Nina was right in front of him did Sir Gregory look up. “He always was a stubborn one, wasn’t he? Just like your mother.”

  Nina badly wanted to comfort the man who had played the fatherly role for most of her life. But she could not. Not while he held her brother in his lap, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was bleeding.

  “Dad,” Nina managed to speak. “You are bleeding. You need a doctor. We need to get out of here and get you to a hospital.”

  Sir Gregory looked at the red liquid dripping from his body onto the floor and slowly shook his head. “I do not need a doctor, child. It is already too late for me. But you and your brother need to get to safety. You cannot stay here.”

  Nina was not listening. “No, Dad, we need to leave, including you! All we have to do is find a hospital and you will be fine! We need you!”

  “Enough of that, child! Right now, there are more important things for you to worry about. Joel needs you now. You are all he has. Be strong for him. There is nothing you can do for me but promise me one thing. Promise that you will look after him.”

  Nina looked at her stepfather and then slowly nodded.

  “Tell your boyfriend to remember what I told him. He must relay the message to those in charge. And be more cautious. Mushani will probably have a lot more men with him now. You must be more careful.” Sir Gregory paused for a moment. “Onani seems like a good man. I am glad I met him again, despite the circumstances.” Nina now in tears managed a smile.

  Father Fletcher descended the steps into the room. “I do not mean to interrupt, but the army people are outside. They say we need to leave.” He went quiet as he took in the scene.

  Sir Gregory looked at his only daughter, then at Father Fletcher. “Take care of my children for me, Father.”

  The priest looked at Sir Gregory, and he understood. “I will. God will look after us all.”

  Sir Gregory only smiled. “One more thing. Watch out for Salamona. Very dangerous, that one.”

  “Salamona? Who is he, one of your people?” Father Fletcher was genuinely alarmed.

  “Not he, she. Try to avoid her at all cost. She is quite vicious, relentless. She does not believe in clean deaths.” Then, remembering that his daughter was still present, Sir Gregory said no more. He looked at her one last time. “Go.”

  Nina and Father Fletcher came out of Sir Gregory’s bedroom to find Onani holding little Joel’s hand, a large bag slung over his shoulder. Onani immediately knew Sir Gregory was not coming with them.

  Little Joel, however, did not. “Where’s Dad?”

  Father Fletcher said nothing, but sadly looked at Nina before going outside.

  Nina knelt next to her brother, filled with deep affection. “Dad is with Mom and Mavuto now, Joel. They will be alright—they are together. And we’ll be okay too, because they will be watching over us. Let’s go, we will be alright.”

  She was the last person out of the house, and stopped to look at her childhood home, now a tomb for two of her family members. With tears in her eyes, she closed the door and left.

  State House, Lilongwe city

  There were four pairs of eyes in the room, three of which were focused on the tall, thin man in a grey suit. Limbani Maloto could not remember the last time he had seen the vice president. Chona had lost a lot of weight, a fact accentuated by the large chair he was sitting in.

  The speaker of parliament spoke first. “We really don’t have time to waste, so I’ll get right to the point. The country has lost its leader. Now the constitution dictates that the Vice President takes over, but personally I have my reservations.”

  Vice President Chona’s demeanour suggested he was not surprised. A faint trace of amusement shimmered in his eyes as the speaker continued.

  “You have been charged with treason. Under the circumstances, we feel that letting you lead the country would not be the prudent course of action.”

  “If that’s how you feel, gentlemen, then why am I here? Did you make me leave my residence and travel through the madness in the streets, just so you could ask me to step aside?” Vincent Chona did not wait for an answer. “I am well aware of the chain of command, Mr. Speaker. If I were to decline the presidency, then you would be next in line to take over. I will not let that happen, I assure you.”

  The fourth man in the room, the chief justice, detested politicians. “From a legal point of view, Vincent, nothing can stop you from ascending to the presidency. You have not been convicted of anything yet. Innocent until proven guilty.”

  “You have, however, made many enemies in the executive. Not many would be willing to work with you.” Limbani Maloto’s tone was accusatory.

  “I have driven through the streets, Limbani. I have seen what those things are doing. We need a coordinated response. So you will forgive me if I do not give a rat’s ass about who likes me or does not.” Vincent Chona relished the shock on Maloto’s face. “Our people need a leader. They need to know that the government is intact. Most important of all, our country must be defended. We need to show those bastards that they cannot just come to our planet and play God. So for now, I suggest we put our political differences aside and fight together.” He smiled, pointedly, at Maloto. “The firings will come later.”

  The chief justice sighed. “First things first. I am going to need a bible.”

  Chileka, Blantyre district

  The desultory movement of the military vehicle belied the urgency of its passengers’ thoughts. None of them could take their minds off what had happened within the past few hours. Worse still, everyone was afraid of what was about to come.

  The truck ground to a halt at the makeshift roadblock. They all disembarked, ignoring the dead bodies, including the little boy and a tall, fat corpse perched on the metal rod blocking the road, its mouth a permanent sinister grin. They also ignored the dead soldier who was locked in a seemingly post-coital embrace with a hulking figure that still had its hands around his throat. What did get their attention was another military man, alive and in the company of spear and machete-wielding civilians.

  “Glad to see you’re still alive, Corporal,” Onani spoke with genuine sincerity. Corporal Lanjesi Chimanga only gave a slight hint of a smile. “I had a little help staying that way, as you can see. Your car is still intact too.”

  “Enough of the chitchat, Corporal,” the sergeant barked. “Where are our reinforcements?”

  “There aren’t any, sir,” the corpor
al replied. “We have been ordered to return to the cities. That’s where most of the trouble is. Closest city to us is Blantyre.”

  Onani spoke up immediately. “We’re going with you.”

  “Like hell you are,” the sergeant gruffed matter-of-factly. You have been reunited with your girlfriend, now get in your car and go home. Don’t be in the way.”

  “This is not just your war, Sergeant.” Nina’s voice startled everyone. “These things have destroyed our homes, our families. They say they want to kill us, but I’ll be damned if I’ll just stand by and let them!” That brought a few cheers from the crowd.

  The sergeant looked like he was about to blow a gasket. Corporal Chimanga spoke before the sergeant could. “Actually, sir, President Chona himself has authorised civilian involvement. He urged them to mobilise themselves and fight for their country.”

  “President Chona?”

  “Yes, sir. He was sworn in about an hour ago. President Moto died of a heart attack.”

  “Well, that’s just fantastic!” The sergeant then uttered a few unpalatables before continuing. “Fine, the civilians can come, but keep in mind that you are no longer my responsibility.” To Onani, he said, “Follow us in that little white car of yours.” Then, loudly enough for everyone to hear, “Let’s kill these bastards!”

  This time the cheers were louder. Even the soldiers joined in. Everyone was caught up in the euphoria. Everyone, that is, except Joel. He silently moved away from his sister, walking towards the smiling figure slumped over the roadblock. He was still looking at it when Nina noticed his absence and ran to get him. His little mind was fixated on the sergeant’s words ‘Let’s kill these bastards’.

  War had begun.

  Andrew Dakalira started writing in his teenage years. Some of his stories have been published by Brittle Paper, Fundza, the Africa Book Club website and africanwriter.com. His work also appeared in the first Africa Book Club anthology The Bundle of Joy and Other Stories from Africa. A three-time winner of the Africa Book Club monthly short reads competition, he lives in Malawi’s capital city, Lilongwe.